Censorship in BOOKS?

[SpaceCub]

I was pondering something while reading Clancy's Rogue Spear: there sure are a lot of swear words in some books.

Read anything by Crichton, Clancy, Wright, etc. and you're bound to find at least 1 F-bomb. And not that I've read anything like them, but I imagine there are some references in those romance stories to make Redd Fox blush.

But the strange this is, nearly all censor attempts have failed against books. You need to provide ID to buy magazines, enter certain websites, see an R movie, heck, even buy some video games, but any kid could pick up Native Son or "Stable Boy and Wanda" and read some pretty nasty stuff. Anyone else see the hypocrisy?

Then again, maybe I should just keep my mouth shut, wouldn't want to give those soccer moms any more ammo.

---
"Geez, Santa's little helper hasn't been any fun since his *female dog* showed up"
"Bart! Where'd you learn to talk like that?!"
"What? I looked it up in the dictionary"
"Ermmmm, I'll have to write a letter to them..."

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press, or the right of the people peaceably to asemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

[Morgan Sloat]

I agree, but it's more of aploy to "protect the children" as if they think the kids don't read.

If thats the case, why did we ever have RIF?

[DR. BELCH]

Yes, but a hundred years ago censorship laws were far more restrictive. Consider D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, which when first published was actually banned largely here and in Mexico. The unexpurgated version wasn't made commercially available for over fifty years, until WWII, and then only in Italy. Authorized versions, by grace of Lawrence's estate/widow, didn't reach America until 1959.

[The Guard]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

There's a BOOK about ROGUE SPEAR???

The sequel to RAINBOW SIX???

Everyone told me it was just a game, unlike the first one!

is it good?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[The Guard]

That said, there are F bombs in real life. Why should books be any different. Read Stephen King's IT. There's a lot more than F bombs.

[SpaceCub]

*Sigh* The game is based on the book.

And yes, it's good.

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"Hey! That word you keep calling me!"
"Ignoramous?"
"Yeah! That means I'm stupid, doesn't it?!"

[RogueMartian]

There is censorship in books, if you don't believe me then go to some schools and look for a copy of Huckleberry Finn. Its not such a big problem in cities, but in large portions of the country schools and to a much more limited extent, public libraries, don't carry books they don't like.

The reason books don't have as much censorship as television and radio though is because there is this belief that the airwaves are public property and are limited, and because of that they should be controlled by some moral standards. If not controlled by the government then its controlled by advertisers who don't want their product advertised during a show that is too controversial.

[The Avatar]

I've never seen much censorship in books. I get all my books at bookstores (our town doesn't have a library). I've actually been to a school bookfair that had some very adult murder mysteries for the adults that kids could easily pick up. :ack:I better stop before soccer moms start trying to boycott school bookfairs.

[Bird Boy]

If you want to discuss censorship in books, please don't bump a five year old thread to do so. It's confusing.

-BB